Local entrepreneurs, retailers and business experts talk about what it takes for homegrown food and beverage businesses to get their products into grocery stores.
Author: Gina Smith
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From the heart: An Asheville nurse shares her combat experience through song
A songwriting retreat with the nonprofit Freedom Sings USA helped U.S. Air Force veteran Michelle Dolan process memories about an injured Afghan child named Zahara.
Longer growing seasons mean more allergy issues for WNC
Asheville-area health professionals are seeing itchy, sniffling allergy sufferers up to nine months of the year.
Fresh Dish: From pintxos to pizza
Married chefs Brittany Kroeyr-Brown and Matt Brown talk about their new mobile restaurant, Paperhouse Pizza, plus pizza research and why bitter greens are beautiful.
Building Bridges marks 30 years of equity education
The all-volunteer, antiracism organization grew from a single nine-week course back in 1993.
Fresh Dish: Trevor Payne on roasted chicken and neighborhood connection
Xpress sits down with the Tall John’s owner to chat about the unexpected popularity of beets, Asheville’s need for more Japanese cuisine and the pressing importance of choosing just the right bathroom wallpaper.
Despite abundance, hunger soars in WNC
A recent community food assessment shows post-COVID food insecurity and hunger are surging in Macon, Swain and Jackson counties. The data is dire but could offer a roadmap for a better regional food system.
Community members fight for the future of Southside’s urban farm
A March 27 proposal to the board of commissioners of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville called for the demolition of Southside Community Farm to make way for a $200,000 outdoor youth play area. Hundreds of community members showed up to the April board meeting to voice their dissent.
What’s new in food: Food trucks debut with Native American, Middle Eastern fare
Two recently launched food trucks offer Native American and Middle Eastern fare at local breweries. Also in this week’s food news, a new food hall comes to Fletcher, chefs and bartenders face off at the annual N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association Chef Showdown, Market Place chef William Dissen releases his debut cookbook and more.
What’s new in food: Pop Bubble Tea kicks off second Asian tour
Pop Bubble Tea dives deeper into Asheville’s Asian community and culture with the 2024 Poppy’s Asian Tour. Also this week: Soprana Rooftop Cucina opens downtown, Cultura’s latest Cease and Desist dinner series, a Low Country boil at Hickory Nut Gap Farm and more.
Around Town: Blue Ridge Mountains inspire debut suspense novel
A Weaverville author launches her debut novel with an event at Blue Mountain Pizza. Also in this issue: Book discussion and activism events highlight Asheville Prison Books, a Yale singing group performs at the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Mountain BizWorks’ spring Craft Your Commerce workshop series and more.
What is the quintessential WNC dish?
Does Asheville have its own version of Knoxville, Tenn.’s revered steamed hoagie? One reporter aims to find out.
New translation of the Tao Te Ching applies ancient wisdom to 21st-century experience
In early April, Mars Hill University professor of religious studies Marc Mullinax debuted his new book, Tao Te Ching: Power for the Peaceful, a translation and interpretation that blends a scholarly awareness of the text’s original historical context with an accessible connection to the contemporary American experience.
Need for seed: Pandemic supply problems see second season
Last spring’s supply problems have persisted this growing season — and have extended to commercial farming operations — as seed companies grapple with coronavirus-induced labor issues and consistently high demand.
COVID-19 long-haulers struggle to reclaim their lives
Research from China, Italy and the United States indicates that anywhere from 50% to 80% of those who contract COVID-19 still experience symptoms of what’s come to be called “long COVID” many months after the initial infection with the virus. Xpress talks to patients and health care providers to understand how the phenomenon is affecting lives in Western North Carolina.
SNAP incentives boost market sales for local farmers
Market managers and vendors at the markets participating in the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Double SNAP initiative, which matches Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits dollar-for-dollar on edible items, saw SNAP transactions nearly triple from 2019 to 2020, and 80% of responding vendors said they’d experienced sales growth due to the program.
Field to Shroud seeds healthy death culture
Burnsville resident Katherine Savage feels a unique kinship with a small patch of ground on the campus of Warren Wilson College. The 5-foot by 60-foot plot was home this year to a crop of flax, a traditional Southern Appalachian fiber plant, which she is helping process into linen that she will someday wear as her burial shroud.
School gardens keep growing despite pandemic
Jodie Williams, a teacher at Bell’s School for People Under Six in Fletcher, recently received a Henderson County award for supporting student health and wellness through gardening. But with many students learning online due to COVID-19, Williams and other local educators are digging deep to keep their school gardens viable.
WNC’s independent poultry farmers persevere through processing challenges
Three years out from the closure of the state’s only USDA-inspected plant for independent farmers, more than 200 North Carolina farms are processing their own poultry. But due to the extra labor and time requirements, many producers statewide are still putting less pastured poultry on the market now than they were in 2017.
Tom Elmore marks 70 years with 700 miles
Elmore rode a variety of routes around Leicester and north Buncombe County, beginning and ending at his own doorstep at Thatchmore Farm in Leicester. “It started off pretty slow — maybe 30 miles a week — and worked up to over 100 miles a week,” he says, noting that he ended the tour with a 100-mile day.
Despite decaying masonry, St. James AME Church remains Black community cornerstone
The Rev. Brent La Prince Edwards says that with gatherings now happening virtually, the COVID-19 pandemic offers an opportunity for his church to embark on a $571,000 renovation project without displacing worship services and other events.